Karin Aparo, 1990

Karin Aparo, 1990

Stephen Dunn / Hartford Courant

Perhaps no Connecticut criminal case in recent decades has matched the lurid appeal that surrounded the murder of Joyce Aparo and the arrest of her 16-year-old daughter Karin. And the tawdry case was capped, fittingly enough, by an unsettling made-for-TV moment as the jury announced the verdict in the pretty teenager's trial. On Aug. 5, 1987, Joyce Aparo, a 47-year-old social worker, was found strangled under a bridge in Bernardston, Mass., 80 miles from her home in Glastonbury. The investigation quickly focused on Dennis Coleman, Karin Aparo's 19-year-old boyfriend, who later confessed to the killing. But Aparo was arrested as well, charged as an accessory and co-conspirator after evidence revealed the pair had detailed conversations about killing Joyce Aparo. Coleman pleaded guilty to murder in 1989 and was sentenced to 34 years in prison. Aparo took her chances with a jury, at a trial where Coleman was the star witness. He testified about Aparo's sexual manipulation and her insistence that Joyce Aparo was trying to keep them apart. He said Aparo begged him to kill her mother, and eventually he agreed. Aparo's defense attorney, Hubert Santos, argued that Aparo merely fantasized about her mother's demise, following years of documented physical and psychological abuse. The case fostered strong opinions in the state, with some seeing a vulnerable and psychologically scarred girl, and others seeing a cold manipulator who used sex to turn her boyfriend into a killer -- even as she was sleeping with another man. After nine days of deliberations, jurors failed to reach a verdict on a conspiracy charge, and acquitted Aparo of being an accessory to the murder. But the verdict itself may be less memorable than the way it was delivered. Instructed to deliver the decision of the jury, the foreman rose, winked at Aparo, and declared her not guilty. Dozens of people called prosecutors demanding a retrial on the conspiracy charge. But higher courts deemed a second trial would be double jeopardy, and Aparo was cleared. Aparo, now just a few years younger than her mother at the time of her death, moved out of state and got married. After her arrest, she had spent just three days in jail. Coleman was released from prison in 2012, after more than 22 years behind bars. IMAGE CAPTION: Karin Aparo glances back at the spectator section in Hartford Superior Court on May 21, 1990, the first day of testimony in her trial on charges that she was an accessory to the murder of her mother, Joyce Aparo of Glastonbury, in August 1987.

Perhaps no Connecticut criminal case in recent decades has matched the lurid appeal that surrounded the murder of Joyce Aparo and the arrest of her 16-year-old daughter Karin. And the tawdry case was capped, fittingly enough, by an unsettling made-for-TV moment as the jury announced the verdict in the pretty teenager's trial. On Aug. 5, 1987, Joyce Aparo, a 47-year-old social worker, was found strangled under a bridge in Bernardston, Mass., 80 miles from her home in Glastonbury. The investigation quickly focused on Dennis Coleman, Karin Aparo's 19-year-old boyfriend, who later confessed to the killing. But Aparo was arrested as well, charged as an accessory and co-conspirator after evidence revealed the pair had detailed conversations about killing Joyce Aparo. Coleman pleaded guilty to murder in 1989 and was sentenced to 34 years in prison. Aparo took her chances with a jury, at a trial where Coleman was the star witness. He testified about Aparo's sexual manipulation and her insistence that Joyce Aparo was trying to keep them apart. He said Aparo begged him to kill her mother, and eventually he agreed. Aparo's defense attorney, Hubert Santos, argued that Aparo merely fantasized about her mother's demise, following years of documented physical and psychological abuse. The case fostered strong opinions in the state, with some seeing a vulnerable and psychologically scarred girl, and others seeing a cold manipulator who used sex to turn her boyfriend into a killer -- even as she was sleeping with another man. After nine days of deliberations, jurors failed to reach a verdict on a conspiracy charge, and acquitted Aparo of being an accessory to the murder. But the verdict itself may be less memorable than the way it was delivered. Instructed to deliver the decision of the jury, the foreman rose, winked at Aparo, and declared her not guilty. Dozens of people called prosecutors demanding a retrial on the conspiracy charge. But higher courts deemed a second trial would be double jeopardy, and Aparo was cleared. Aparo, now just a few years younger than her mother at the time of her death, moved out of state and got married. After her arrest, she had spent just three days in jail. Coleman was released from prison in 2012, after more than 22 years behind bars. IMAGE CAPTION: Karin Aparo glances back at the spectator section in Hartford Superior Court on May 21, 1990, the first day of testimony in her trial on charges that she was an accessory to the murder of her mother, Joyce Aparo of Glastonbury, in August 1987. (Stephen Dunn / Hartford Courant)

Perhaps no Connecticut criminal case in recent decades has matched the lurid appeal that surrounded the murder of Joyce Aparo and the arrest of her 16-year-old daughter Karin. And the tawdry case was capped, fittingly enough, by an unsettling made-for-TV moment as the jury announced the verdict in the pretty teenager's trial. On Aug. 5, 1987, Joyce Aparo, a 47-year-old social worker, was found strangled under a bridge in Bernardston, Mass., 80 miles from her home in Glastonbury. The investigation quickly focused on Dennis Coleman, Karin Aparo's 19-year-old boyfriend, who later confessed to the killing. But Aparo was arrested as well, charged as an accessory and co-conspirator after evidence revealed the pair had detailed conversations about killing Joyce Aparo. Coleman pleaded guilty to murder in 1989 and was sentenced to 34 years in prison. Aparo took her chances with a jury, at a trial where Coleman was the star witness. He testified about Aparo's sexual manipulation and her insistence that Joyce Aparo was trying to keep them apart. He said Aparo begged him to kill her mother, and eventually he agreed. Aparo's defense attorney, Hubert Santos, argued that Aparo merely fantasized about her mother's demise, following years of documented physical and psychological abuse. The case fostered strong opinions in the state, with some seeing a vulnerable and psychologically scarred girl, and others seeing a cold manipulator who used sex to turn her boyfriend into a killer -- even as she was sleeping with another man. After nine days of deliberations, jurors failed to reach a verdict on a conspiracy charge, and acquitted Aparo of being an accessory to the murder. But the verdict itself may be less memorable than the way it was delivered. Instructed to deliver the decision of the jury, the foreman rose, winked at Aparo, and declared her not guilty. Dozens of people called prosecutors demanding a retrial on the conspiracy charge. But higher courts deemed a second trial would be double jeopardy, and Aparo was cleared. Aparo, now just a few years younger than her mother at the time of her death, moved out of state and got married. After her arrest, she had spent just three days in jail. Coleman was released from prison in 2012, after more than 22 years behind bars. IMAGE CAPTION: Karin Aparo glances back at the spectator section in Hartford Superior Court on May 21, 1990, the first day of testimony in her trial on charges that she was an accessory to the murder of her mother, Joyce Aparo of Glastonbury, in August 1987.